Myrmica paradoxa

Introduction

Myrmica paradoxa is an extinct ant species known only from three worker specimens preserved in late Eocene amber from what is now Germany. This fossil species lived approximately 37.8-33.9 million years ago during the Priabonian age. Workers measured about 6mm in body length, making them comparable in size to many modern Myrmica species. The species was named 'paradoxa' because of its unusual combination of features - it had typical Myrmica characteristics like pectinate spurs on the hind tibiae and a three-segmented antennal club, but also displayed atypical traits including a short, robust mesosoma and very short blunt propodeal denticles instead of the longer spines typical of most Myrmica. This combination is so unusual that researchers have noted the species superficially resembles members of the genus Manica, though it differs in key anatomical details. As a fossil species preserved in amber, Myrmica paradoxa cannot be kept in captivity - it went extinct tens of millions of years before humans existed .